Commentary on Politics, People and the News - especially in Minnesota. Send comments tips to lloydletta@gmail.com

Saturday, February 01, 2003

Free Republic Posters on Bush's AIDS Proposals

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833606/posts

This is nothing but Bush pandering to the homo population...

My own position was that since AIDS is behavior related and Moslems are winning that battle (by killing folks who step outside their very tight standards)

...and I would prefer to call by its' other original name, but every time I post it, it gets deleted by the AM, and I get a nasty FReepmail. I'll try to be more prudent this time: AIDS-Another Infected...
You have to figure out the last two words.

EY: Yeah, I've heard this one before -- Another Infected Dying Sodomite. I've been booted off of Free Republic long ago, because I posted pro "gay agenda" items. There's also the GAY = Got AIDS Yet. The fundies love to go on about this stuff.

The unemployed defendant was found guilty of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. The incident occurred during a public speaking appearance a year ago by Wowereit.

The man shouted: "Sodomites are an iniquity in the sight of the Almighty. Repent!"

Announcing "I'm gay and that's good," 48-year-old Wowereit was elected mayor of Berlin in June 2001. His male partner accompanies him to social functions, including the gala Berlin Press Ball earlier this month.

Comment: This is silly. The guy is an idiot and should be ignored. It would be a different thing if he also made physically threatening moves towards the mayor.

What commentators have failed to mention, though, is that history wouldn’t offer quite so much opportunity had Bush himself not exacerbated the pandemic by blocking international family planning funds, and attempting to overturn agreements on reproductive health. Then there was the administration’s recent attempt at the United Nations' Bangkok population conference to block an endorsement of condom use for AIDS prevention. Will the new billions be spent without benefit of prevention, other than adapting the drug message Nancy Reagan promoted? Forget condoms; just say no to AIDS.

EY: It's a fair criticism that the Bush administration needs to quit listening to the theocrats on matters of public health.

Friday, January 31, 2003

San Francisco Chronicle covers Thacker controversy and Pat Ware's role in the nomination

From the article:

A number of sources close to the council said the Thacker nomination was pushed by the council's controversial executive director, Pat Ware, an African American woman allied with the Family Research Council and other conservative Christian groups and a vocal proponent of abstinence as an AIDS prevention method. Ware referred media calls to the White House.

A member of the council said Ware has made several comments to gay members of the council suggesting that gay white men are responsible for infecting the African American community with AIDS. Others confirmed that Ware and her allies among conservative Christian groups have promoted that theory.

Meanwhile the Family Research Council whines about the President's speech:

What Happened to Abstinence?

In his State of the Union address, President Bush proposed spending $500 million for research into hydrogen powered
automobiles. He also asked for $15 billion for AIDS prevention and treatment programs in Africa. Yet the $167
million for abstinence education here in the U.S. the president requested more than a year ago still has not been
approved by Congress. Worse, even this modest $167 million has been whittled down by $30 million (while Planned
Parenthood funding was increased!). Right now we're fighting just to maintain the meager abstinence funding
already appropriated without any significant increase. Yet abstinence is the only proven, 100 percent effective method
for preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), as well as unwanted pregnancies. The AIDS plague
ravaging Africa is a terrible human tragedy. Those already afflicted should be treated. America's humanitarian
tradition demands that we do what we can to alleviate the suffering. But promoting abstinence should be the only
prevention strategy the taxpayers are asked to fund.

Stressing abstinence, moreover, is the only prevention approach that has shown any success in Africa. Uganda,
notably, has reduced the new infection rate dramatically through abstinence education programs. FRC supports
President Bush's compassionate conservative agenda, but it is critical that the billions he has requested in
humanitarian aid go to programs of proven effectiveness.

As for the languishing domestic funding for abstinence education, FRC believes that protecting America's teenagers
from AIDS and other STDs, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, depression, and suicide is more important than such
boondoggles as hydrogen powered cars.

All the peer reviewed research on this, shows that comprehensive sexuality education programs work and these abstinence only until marriage programs do not work.

Thursday, January 30, 2003

Moreover, he says, regardless of how popular “bug chasing” is in homosexual circles, the Rolling Stone expose points to the sexual recklessness and obsessiveness among “gay” men that is manifested in other dangerous practices such as “barebacking” — a slang term for condomless anal sodomy.

"Fleischer's comments were what you might expect from the character assassins and religious bigots of the far left, not from a spokesman for President Bush." states Sandy Rios in a press release asking for Fleisher to appologise for comments he made about Jerry Thacker -- the AIDS nominee who withdrew from consideration.

Yup, still more bleating from the Culture and Family Institute. Ari Fleisher just called it as he saw it.

This is just another example of how the theocratic anti-gay crowd is making itself more and more politically irrelevant. Thanks to the Culture and Family Institute for helping Log Cabin Republicans Cause with the Bush Whitehouse.

Ken Connor wrote a column in the Washington Times. In it he says that NARAL worships a pagan child killing god.

For NARAL and its shrinking corps of supporters, the right of a woman to kill the baby growing inside her has become a religion, the central organizing principle of their lives, the overriding moral imperative of their world. Why else celebrate a deeply flawed court ruling that no longer can withstand the objective scrutiny of science? Why else treat the deaths of 42 million unborn children as an occasion for a party? NARAL worships at the altar of Molech, the pagan idol of the Old Testament, the demon god who demanded the sacrifice of living children.

I normally don't like Kate Michaelman of NARAL much but she responds well:

NARAL Pro-Choice America will not engage in the name-calling to which Mr. Connor descends, nor is there any point in responding to absurdities such as his claim that we oppose showing pregnant women's sonograms. Nonetheless, readers are entitled to ask whose position qualifies as extreme.

Wednesday, January 29, 2003

25% OF NEW HIV-INFECTED GAY MEN SOUGHT OUT VIRUS, SAYS SAN FRAN HEALTH OFFICIALscreams a recent Drudge Report headline that made it's way around email lists and newsgroups throughout the internet. The fundies on Free Republic predictably were salivating on the story.

The story quotes Dr. Bob Cabaj, director of saying that as many as "25% of new HIV infections" come from bug chasing. Predictably the theocratic right has been trumpeting this stat. Internet "self proclaimed right wing religious fanatic homophobic" talk show host Bob Enyart did a show on the topic. Sean Hannity picked up on the story and interviewed the author of the Rolling Stone Story on Bug Chasers. Writer and blogger Andrew Sullivan has commented on the story being homophobic and aidsphobic.

The morons.org blog site writes: I emailed Dr. Bob Cabaj, to whom the 25% figure that appears in Rolling Stone was attributed, and he was kind enough to email me back. What he actually said was "a goodly percentage may deliberately sero-convert, but we have no way to know the actual number." Dr. Cabaj indicated that he asked the fact-checker to fix the quote, but the fact-checker did not follow through.

Now Tammy Bruce picks up on the story in an article in Front Page: Bug Chasers and the Thought Police. Tammy defends Hannity saying the following: "Sean Hannity, who interviewed Freeman on "Hannity & Colmes," gets described by Sullivan as a "gay-hater." I know Sean Hannity and he is a man of principle, and faithful to his Catholicism. As a gay woman, I disagree with him regarding certain issues, but the man does not "hate" gay people. To the Thought Police, however, the truth really doesn’t matter. Name-calling and accusations of "hate" are tactics meant to silence those who dissent or challenge. It’s meant to marginalize those who dare to step out of line."

Ofcourse, both Hannity and Bruce regularly call people who disagree with them all sorts of names, so I think this one is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.

The morons.org site claims: One thing is certain to come from this, regardless of whether this claim is fully refuted: fundies are going to use this report to further justify their hatred of men who have sex with men, and far-right-wing nutjobs are going to use this report to excuse cutting back HIV and AIDS funding for research and care; they'll claim the money will just be wasted because those infected with HIV deserve it since they're all out trying to become infected.

Meanwhile according to Newsweek, Freeman of Rolling Stone stands by his story: Freeman, a freelance writer and the author of “Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It,” stands by his story. In a phone interview Thursday morning, he said, “This is shocking. I vividly remember these conversations. From the very start, the article has been a touchy issue for everyone involved. I can only guess that now that it’s getting a lot of attention, people are getting worried. It’s an unpleasant topic.” (Freeman says he did not tape-record his conversations with the two doctors.)

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Predictably, some gay Republicans were overjoyed by those comments. Log Cabin Republicans communications director Mark Mead called to tell me just how much, emphasizing, too, that four openly gay men had been appointed to the panel.

"We now know where the president stands–and it’s 180 degrees from where Thacker stands," he said with glee.

Perhaps Mead is right, in which case our president is either: 1) a psychotic with a split personality or 2) not in charge of his administration. If number one is true, Bush obviously should not be president. And if number two is true, well, then he actually isn’t the president.

I say that because the Bush administration continues to take actions that are in opposition to what the president claims to believe. Bush wants to "leave no child behind," but his administration underfunds education programs. He criticizes Trent Lott for his racist remarks, but then brings the racial lightening rod–and Lott buddy–Charles Pickering back as a judicial nominee. He stands firm in the war on terrorism while dangerously cutting and diverting money and manpower to fight it. He says he’s a populist looking to help the little guy, and then proposes tax cuts that will substantially help the big guys.

The Thacker appointment wasn’t the first time that the Bushies had thrown gays to the Christian right like red meat to a pack of wolves, only to later profess bewilderment that anyone would think they were insensitive. Back in July 2001, the Washington Post revealed–also on page one–that White House mastermind Karl Rove had cut a deal with the Salvation Army. He’d promised that Bush’s new faith-based initiative programs would make the not-so-gay-friendly group exempt from antidiscrimination laws that protect gays. In return, the group would spend a million bucks on Republican lobbyists, including money for a major Bush campaign strategist. Exposed, the administration quickly responded that it had no plans to do anything of the kind–though, actually, only a few weeks ago Bush signed faith-based executive orders that in fact appear to allow the Salvation Army to discriminate against gays exactly as it had been promised in the original, secret Rovian pact.

So, even if Log Cabin’s Mead is correct in saying that the president doesn’t agree with people like Thacker, what does it really matter, since his administration often does the complete opposite of what he says he believes? Thacker, after all, would now be sitting on the AIDS commission if not for his recently purged words landing on the front pages.

Carl Schmid, a more forthcoming gay Republican who worked on Bush’s 2000 campaign but has been disillusioned by these kinds of maneuvers, comments that "Thacker reflects the same views as people in the administration. There are people who are definitely antigay in HHS. I’m glad to hear Bush’s words, but there’s a dichotomy. The administration is speaking with two voices."

====================================
Good for Carl Schmid.... I'm glad he is speaking out, rather than enabling stupidity in the Bush administration.

"I guess if you're gay but you're also rich, and you like to pollute, and you don't like black people, then you vote Republican. But it's not rational to think that voting Republican is the best way to advance the gay agenda."
--Barney Frank, quoted in Jake Tapper, "A Log Cabin Divided," Salon (on-line), April 6, 2000

"I can't in good conscience urge the rest of us to do what part of me really would like to do: slap them silly and throw them off the Washington Avenue Bridge."
--Richard Osborne, "The Gay Agenda," Lavender, November 29, 2002

"Gay Republicans make as much sense as African American Klansmen"
--Pete Wagner, Editorial Cartoon, The Minnesota Daily, April 18, 2000

Items like the foregoing are rather typical of what many gay Republicans face from other members of the gay community.

What is ironic about these items is that we frequently are treated to lectures from the "progressive" left about the need for tolerance and inclusion. However, items like the ones cited show that tolerance and inclusion is only for those who hold the standard orthodox left political views.

Osborne's column quotes antigay segments of the Minnesota Republican party platform. He suggests that by being active in the Republican Party, gay Republicans are supporting these antigay elements in the party platform.

Osborne's solution is to shun gay Republicans socially in order to bring them in line with liberal orthodoxy. What I don't understand is how shunning gay Republicans is going to help the gay community as a whole in our struggle for equal treatment under the law.

Monday, January 27, 2003

Who made the decision to continue with OSM / SEH Consultants when the privately funded Abbott Northwestern Transportation Study (of 1997) somehow morphed into the Phillips Partnership's Access Project? After Smith-Parker and other project lobbyists secured federal funding - was there any public bidding process for design services or was the project simply given to OSM? what about when OSM went out of business and some of their staff went to work for SEH - was the project then simply handed over to SEH? - was there any public bidding process then?

Here's a disturbing article about the divisive agenda of some on the White House AIDS panel:

"A number of sources close to the council said the Thacker nomination was pushed by the council's controversial executive director, Pat Ware, an African American woman allied with the Family Research Council and other conservative Christian groups and a vocal proponent of abstinence as an AIDS prevention method. Ware referred media calls to the White House. A member of the council said Ware has made several comments to gay members of the council suggesting that gay white men are responsible for infecting the African American community with AIDS. Others confirmed that Ware and her allies among conservative Christian groups have promoted that theory." - San Francisco Gate (Jan. 24, 2003)

There is good reason to have a diversity of views on such a panel. But it surely serves nothing constructive to have members pit one beleaguered group dealing with AIDS against another. Working together is the key here - especially trying to merge gay male expertise on AIDS with the terrible crisis among African-Americans. So why divide people? Unless you are motivated not by a desire to help but by a desire to blame?

The Wiz came to the Stride Meeting, and gave her comments on the meeting:

From it's inception, STRIDE has made it a habit to scorn those who
disagree with its position, to cast aspersions on the character of
those who support the 35W project and helped bring it into being,
failure to know the history of the project they are scornful of, and a
whole raft of other red flags that tell us they are not focused, not
serious, and not knowledgable enough about the multiple issues that 35W
access is tied to.

They took pot shots at Art Erickson too. It's very popular to take pot
shots at Art and, in some ways, Art almost invites it. I've taken a few
shots at Art over the years myself. However, I think Art should be
allowed to state his position at a public meeting on what he perceives
as the value of business without suffering the snide remarks. He is,
after all, the Chair of CNIA and empowered to represent its position on
35W access.

======================================
EY: It was I who took the "potshot", and that was because Art opened himself up for it. Art said the Access Project would help kids in the neighborhood to cross 35w. I just commented that I didn't know what planet Art was on because whatever the advantages of the project were, I didn't see that making the area more pedestrian friendly was one of them.

And here, David is also not engaging in full disclosure, the first
"offending post" he mentioned, he never sent a warning about. Or if he
did, I never received it.

But thanks David for finding your response to the appeal. I need to find
them, but I have several more pieces of correspondance from David that say
that his problem with my post is that I posted information from a gossip
column.

Skyway News editor, and Minneapolis Issues List manager, David Brauer
booted me from the Minneapolis Issues list after I referenced one of CJ
columns about Peter McLaughlin (the one that talked about his exwife having
a lawnsign of his opponent).

I have appealed the ruling (several weeks ago). In the interest of full
disclosure, I'm also letting people know here about this.

>> project? Stride's website really is funny when it quotes Peter
>McLaughlin
>> -- who after all is a wonderful comic character with all these
>"amusing if
>> it didn't happen to you" life stories.
>
Eva: this is outrageous. This references an embarrassing incident -
unproven, from a gossip column for heaven's sake -- in Commissioner
McLaughlin's personal life that has no relevance to his political/public
actions. It is gratuitous, mean-spirited and well beneath the standards
of the forum. It is a flagrant violation of our rules against personal
attack.

I have warned you repeatedly about personalizing issue disagreement.
Although I have valued your longstanding contribution and membership,
you seem not to understand or abide by rules others must observe. Since
this is yet another offense, I am expelling you for the six-month period
prescribed in our rules. You may appeal to the E-democracy board of
directors as per our website, http://www.e-democracy.org/mpls

David Brauer
>List manager

And here's a copy of the appeal. Steven Clift is chair of the board of E
Democracy -- his number is: . I'm not sure of David Brauer's number, but
he can be reached at Skyway news. You can reach me for further comment at:

I am sending this again. I would like to get an acknowledgement this was
received.

Hi Folks:

I am appealing David Brauer's expulsion of me from the Minneapolis Issues
Forum. He banned me from the list for 6 months because I included a
reference to CJ's published gossip column about Peter McLaughlin on the list.

David kicked me off the list after Peter McLaughlin complained to him
(David acknoledged so much in an email to me). Peter never wrote me
directly about the post (or other posts I've done about him), instead, he
complained to list management (Brauer) to get a frequent critic of his
silenced. There is also a pattern of this type of problem on Minneapolis
Issues. Paul Kuettel was taken off the list because he had criticized
lobbyist Brian Rice. McLaughlin has many taxpayer funded ways to get his
message to the media and to other mediums. Critics of a politician should
be able to participate in forums, to set the spin straight.

I do not believe my post violated Minneapolis List rules as written. I
think David in this case, and in Kuettel's case, took an overly broad
definition of "inflamed speech". Ironically in both these cases, it was
Republican posters who were silenced this way.

If this continues to work, politicians in Minneapolis will use the
complaint procedure to silence critics. It is too bad when E Democracy
becomes a tool to that.

In my case, I would like the results of this appeal to be made public on
the mpls-rules list.

Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
eva@u...

Eva
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis

"You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on
freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave
the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the
world is full of idiots, and probably always will be." --Article II of the
Bill of Non-Rights.

Issues with Issues: David Brauer is a busy guy these days-a one man media empire. He's editor of two newspapers and is List Manager of the Mpls/Issues List, the most popular political e-mail depository in town. Brauer also finds time to lend a helping hand to his neighborhood and in whatever spare time he has left, rubs shoulders with the DFL nomenklatura. Brauer was however, no Mr. Nice Guy when he deported Issues regular and Republican rarity, Eva Young to Cyber-ia, citing breach of "Decorum" (quaint term, isn't it) for referencing a CJ Column about the alleged marital trouble of a local DFL satrap. Nevermind that Brauer has resorted to less than gentlemanly behavior himself when he publicly psychoanalyzed mayoral candidate Lisa McDonald on the eve of the 2001 Primary....With a wave of the magic cyber-wand, you can be transported to "Wiztories" where fact and fantasy merge in the frenetic imagination of Central Neighborhood's favorite cyber-celebrities.... and Best Wishes and Holiday Greetings go out to all my readers and the staff at RaucousCaucus.com.

Reminder:
Let me take this time to let Eva Young know ... and everyone else who's been given the boot that I will be eager to hear their comments, gossip or indecorous rumors, regardless of whether they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps after drinking all that eggnog....
Send e-mails to: PP3@RaucusCaucus.com

The image is jarring: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, presidential candidate, appears on an infomercial asking Evangelical Christians to donate money to "rescue a Jew.""'On Wings of Eagles' is a modern-day fulfillment of Biblical prophesy," the voiceover in the infomercial says, over images of huddled Russian Jews at the airport, smiling as they presumably wait to leave Russia for Israel.
The half-hour appeal aired on the afternoon of Jan. 2 on Paxson Broadcasting (PAX) stations across the nation (locally on WHPX, channel 26), according to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), the Chicago-based nonprofit that paid for the spot. Alongside Lieberman, testimonials come from stars of the Christian Right, including convicted Watergate felon Charles Colson, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, and Moral Majority head Jerry Falwell.

Critics of the Christian Right say the IFCJ's appeal to "prophesy" in their infomercial is a thinly veiled reference to Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ and the moment when nonbelievers -- Jews included -- will be cast into the lake of fire. Jewish critics of the IFCJ say the group demeans the dignity of Jews.

Yet from 1994 to 1999, Lieberman, who on Monday announced his bid for the presidency, served as co-chair of one of IFCJ's projects, the Washington-based Center for Jewish and Christian Values.

Lieberman's long association with the IFCJ is, if not a secret, a little-known detail of his biography. No examination of it was made during Lieberman's bid for the vice presidency in 2000. The secular, mainstream press has taken no notice.

His appearance in the infomercial -- replete with scenes from the Nazi Holocaust and repeated invocations of prophecy -- raises questions:

· When did Lieberman tape this message, which consists of testimonial for Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the leader of the IFCJ?

· Did the senator know it would be used in an infomercial?

· Does Lieberman believe that we're in the End Times?

The Advocate described the IFCJ's tape in detail to Lieberman's press secretary, Adam Kovacevich, who said last week he would ask Lieberman about it. On Monday, however, Kovacevich said he would not consult Lieberman until The Advocate sent him a copy of the tape. "We have no recent record of the senator making this video," said Kovacevich. "So without seeing it I'm unable to comment."

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein founded IFCJ in 1983, soon after his ordination at New York's Yeshiva University. Its mission, according to its website, is "to foster better relations and understanding between Christians and Jews ... and help build support for Israel and Jews in crises or need."The group toiled in obscurity for its first decade. Then in 1994, Eckstein shifted focus, appearing on Pat Robertson's 700 Club to pitch Christians. Robertson's flock responded generously; IFCJ's budget thereafter ballooned from about $500,000 to, last year, $27.5 million. Eckstein boasts that his organization has "saved" more than 200,000 Jews from Russia.

This alliance of conservative Jews and Christians raised eyebrows in both the Jewish and Christian worlds.

Jewish Anti-Defamation League executive director Abraham Foxman has said he is horrified that Jews are soliciting Christians. "Eckstein is selling the dignity of the Jewish people and the state of Israel by pandering to Christians for money," he told The Jerusalem Report for a 1999 profile on Eckstein.

Falwell, incidentally, has said that the Antichrist will be a Jewish male who is probably "alive somewhere today," a statement that set off charges of anti-Semitism in 1999.

And why do Evangelical Christians give so generously to move poor Russian Jews to Israel? Eckstein's critics say the answer lies in Evangelical Christians' preoccupation with End Times prophesy.

"From their worldview," notes Nikhil Aziz, a researcher with Political Research Associates, a Massachusetts-based think tank, "the permanent establishment of Israel is a prerequisite for the second coming of Christ."

According to many evangelicals the Second Coming will be preceded by the establishment of Israel, and the return of all the Jews. The Jews will construct the "Third Temple," and there will be a great battle. When Christ reappears, those Jews who remain alive will be given a choice: convert or die.

"The support from the religious right is not so much support for Israel for political convictions, but support for Israel because of theological convictions," says Weldon Gaddy, founder and executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, a liberal Washington group. "And this is one part of a strategy for seeing the conversion of Jews."

Eckstein calls that "hogwash" and cites a poll his group did of its donors, where only between 1 and 5 percent gave to hasten the End Times. "Our study found that the majority supported Israel not for theological reasons, but because of democracy and the shared values that we had," he says.

The Lieberman endorsement, in which Lieberman calls Eckstein "the leader ... probably in the world" in promoting dialogue between Jews and evangelicals, came several years ago for a ceremony in which IFCJ was honored by another group, Eckstein says. Eckstein says he never told Lieberman he would use the tape as part of his "Wings of Eagles" appeal but, "when a senator does something like that, unless there is a reason to revoke the endorsement, then we can use it," he says.

The "project" may also have direct political consequences. The Likud government, reeling from scandal but always more hawkish about suppressing the Palestinians than the rival Labor party, had drawn support from the exploding population of former Russians relocated by IFCJ and similar organizations in Israel. Former Soviet emigres now represent more than one-sixth of Israel's voters."I have a concern that Senator Lieberman know the context in which these activities are taking place," says Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance. "I would say to him precisely what I said to President Bush in a letter to him -- that Americans have a right to know that U.S. foreign policy is not being shaped by just one interpretation of biblical prophesy."

=====================================
EY: No, this is Joe Lieberman, Democratic Candidate for President. Now I thought it was the Republicans who were all a bunch of theocratic nutcases.

VIRGINIA BEACH -- A third-year law student at Regent University, who helped run several successful campaigns for local
Republicans, was arrested Jan. 10 and charged with two counts of soliciting sex with a minor over the Internet.

Robin Vanderwall is being held without bond in the Virginia Beach City Jail.

Vanderwall, 34, is charged with two felonies -- use of a communication
device for crimes against children and attempted indecent liberties with
a child 14 or younger.

Vanderwall was arrested after he contacted a Virginia Beach
police officer who was posing as an underage boy in an Internet
chat room, according to prosecutors. The officer agreed to meet with
Vanderwall at a Virginia Beach park on the evening of Jan. 10. Vanderwall
was arrested when he showed up at the park.

Let's see, who is this guy...

A top official of Ralph Reed's political consulting firm
has been accused of involvement with dirty tricks in a GOP congressional
primary in Virginia.

According to news media reports, Tim Phillips, vice
president of Reed's Atlanta-based Century Strategies, helped create a
supposedly "non-partisan" tax-exempt organization called the Faith and
Family Alliance allegedly to drum up support for conservative
causes in Virginia. But just four days before the state's June 12 GOP
primary, the Alliance sent out a mailing attacking congressional
candidate Eric I. Cantor.

The Charlottesville Daily Pro­gress reported that the controversial mailing was prepared and sent by Robin Vanderwall, a
Virginia Beach man who serves as president of the Alliance. Vanderwall said he
used $15,000 from an anonymous donor to pay for the materials, which
went to 40,000 voters in the district. He identified himself as a friend
of Phillips who has worked with him on campaigns in the past.
=====================================================
Hmm, Ralphie Reed has some real winners working for him.